On sale today is a new Blu-ray set called the Rankin-Bass Original Christmas Specials Collection. It contains sparkling (I'm told) prints of five TV specials produced by Arthur Rankin Jr and Jules Bass. They are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, The Little Drummer Boy and Cricket on the Hearth, along with a documentary on Rankin-Bass plus a number of special features.
I had almost nothing to do with the assembly of this product. I'm somewhere in the documentary and I recorded a commentary track for my favorite of these, Frosty the Snowman. You can order a copy of it at this link.
Just so no one's misled: This is not the first time these specials have been available on home video and I'd wager serious money it will not be the last. When your company owns timeless films like these, Standard Operating Procedure seems to be to put them out…and then a year or three later, you put out a deluxe edition…and a few years later, a gold anniversary edition…and then a few years later, a platinum super-deluxe edition and so on. Each time, you add in more special features and maybe strive for even sharper prints so lovers of the material will feel compelled to upgrade and purchase again what they already own. Also, the mere fact that it's a ***NEW RELEASE!*** seems to get attention and sales and I would imagine better display in retail stores and some online sites.
As I've been quoted as saying elsewhere, the whole working goal of the entire Home Video market seems to be to see how many times they can force me to buy Goldfinger. I have the sneaking suspicion that somewhere at this moment, someone is remaking it in a Lego version just so I'll have to spring for that.
So don't complain to me if you buy this set of Rankin-Bass Christmas Specials and then a few years from now, there's a better set out of Rankin-Bass Christmas Specials. Just be happy you had this one to watch and/or show your kids until a few years from now when the better one is issued. Or the better one a few years after that. Or the better one a few years after that…